December 7, 1941: A Date Which Still Lives in Infamy

On December 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following day, The United States declared war on Japan, ushering in America’s involvement in World War II. Many of our interviewees recalled exactly where they were when they learned of the bombing of Pearl Harbor:

Ed McMahon on finding out about the bombing of Pearl Harbor from radio:

In the days after December 7, 1941, the federal government ordered 120,000 Japanese-Americans to leave their homes on the West Coast and enter internment camps. George Takei details his experience as a four-year-old boy, forced to leave his Los Angeles home to travel to multiple camps:

And Pat Morita, at nine years old and in the hospital with spinal tuberculosis, was escorted by FBI agents from the hospital to a relocation camp in Arizona:

December 7, 1941: a date that indeed lives in infamy, not only for marking the beginning of the United States’ involvement in armed combat overseas, but also for initiating a period of grave mistreatment of fellow citizens within our own borders.